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Corey Heim wins at Darlington.
Corey Heim picked up his 24th career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win in thrilling fashion on Friday night at Darlington. The defending series champion restarted from the ninth position on a double-overtime restart.
On fresher tires than most of the cars in front of him, Heim wheeled his No. 5 truck to the third position when leader Ross Chastain received the white flag.
From there, the 23-year-old overtook Christian Eckes for the runner-up spot, and set his sights on Chastain’s No. 45 truck.
In the final turns, Heim dove underneath Chastain entering turn three. Occupying the outside line, Chastain couldn’t fend off Heim on older tires.
Heim cleared Chastain as they exited turn four and crossed the finish line first in the Buckle Up Soutb Carolina 200 at Darlington Rcaeway. It was Heim’s 24th career Truck Series victory in his 91st start and his second win at Darlington Raceway.
Corey Heim on last-lap thriller: ‘Drove the crap out of it’
Heim was feeling the effects of a frantic run to the checkered flag as he celebrated his 24th career win.
The 23XI Racing development driver knew they had a set of scuff tires sitting on pit road. Based on where he was running at the time, Heim thought he would give it a shot and see where he would fall.
On the final restart, Heim threw a Hail Mary, and it paid off for him and the No. 5 team.
“I was shocked he [Chastain] gave me the bottom like that with fresher tires. I’m so out of breath. Thankful for Tricon Garage. Thought we could get this No. 5 Tundra in victory lane. … I love racing, I love winning, and just drove the crap out of it and it worked out,” Heim said via FOX Sports.
Heim won the first race of the three-race Triple Truck Challenge, which awarded him a $50,000 bonus. If Heim wins the second, he would earn a $150,000 bonus, and a $500,000 bonus if he wins the third.
The second race of the challenge will take place at Rockingham Speedway on April 3, while the third is set to be at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 10.
While not confirmed that Heim will take part in those races, he is hopeful Tricon Garage will have a spot for him in the field. Bonus incentives aside, Heim just wants to race.
“I just want to drive the thing. That was awesome. Just had a blast. I love Darlington, I love racing, and I just want to do it more often,” Heim said.
Chastain came home in second, followed by Christian Eckes in third, Kaden Honeycutt in fourth, and Connor Mossack rounded out the top five.
Carson Hocevar crashes out of the lead with four laps to go
After muscling his way past Honeycutt with 20 circuits remaining, it looked as though Carson Hocevar was on his way to victory on Friday night.
However, disaster struck the driver of the No. 77 with four laps remaining. With a sizable gap over second place, Hocevar crashed into the wall, bringing out the Caution’ and dooming his chances at his sixth career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win.
Hocevar led 16 laps in the event and was in position to win, but wound up posting a 22nd-place finish.
Christian Eckes, Kaden Honeycutt win stages at Darlington
Honeycutt started on the pole and led the field to green in Friday’s race. Yet, it was Eckes wheeling his way to a win in the opening stage in the No. 91 truck.
Honeycutt paced the field and grabbed the win in stage two. The driver of the No. 11 led a race-high 59 laps on Friday, despite coming home fourth in the end.
The race saw eight different leaders and nine cautions for 47 laps. One of the cautions included Ben Rhodes crashing out of the event on the third lap, which resulted in a last-place finish of 36th.
Chandler Smith remains the points leader after Darlington
Chandler Smith brought home the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford home 17th on Friday night at Darlington. Despite finishing outside the top 15, Smith remains the points leader in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
Second place is Rhodes (-34). Following the driver of the No. 99 is Ty Majeski in third (-50), followed by Gio Ruggiero in fourth (-54), and Layne Riggs in fifth (-56).
The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series heads to Rockingham Speedway for the Black’s Tire 200 on April 3 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time.
John Breeden John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden
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